Archive for Readings

The Exploitation of Brains – Designer Crowdsourcing

July 27, 2011 · Filed under Readings

design outsourcing
If you have not heard of the word Crowdsourcing, you are missing out on one of the world largest exploits in the design industry. Crowdsourcing comes from the word “crowd” and “outsourcing” , outsourcing projects which make use of pool of intelligent brains.

From Wikipedia,
“Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production model. In the classic use of the term, problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users—also known as the crowd—typically form into online communities, and the crowd submits solutions. The crowd also sorts through the solutions, finding the best ones. These best solutions are then owned by the entity that broadcast the problem in the first place—the crowdsourcer—and the winning individuals in the crowd are sometimes rewarded. In some cases, this labor is well compensated, either monetarily, with prizes, or with recognition.”

Businesses profits from having multiple designers submitting free ideas and only rewarding a small amount of them. Thus giving them access to a huge amount of different ideas in a short time frame. It may sounds great! but it is bad news to professional designers and also the small and medium companies. The fact that using free labour for commercial gain is already against business ethic, having designs produced by a group of beginners or college students may cause serious brand damage to your company. The clients of crowdsourcing businesses relies on competition, not research or professional consultation and are missing the values of creative designs. The industries and clients should know that the works from design crowdsourcing are not from professional designers. They will never engage with such activities as it will destroy great ideas and encourage plagiarism.

I have once participated in such activities and acquired recognition from several clients but I soon understand that it is an exploit that will destroy the design industry and my passion for great designs.
I hope future young designers will understand the implication of design crowdsourcing and make wise choices to promote creativity..

Below is a comment from a website that greatly describe the exploitation of brains.

Posted by Alicia Whetton on 20th July 2011
I was recently talking to someone in IT about this whose response was “If that’s what the market wants, you need to adapt”. I responded with “fine, provide me with IT support for a month, and if I like your service, I’ll pay you for it.” Of course, he was outraged.

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The Two Most Important Factors In eCommerce Design

June 29, 2009 · Filed under Graphic Design, Readings

The Two Most Important Factors In eCommerce Design
Friday, 9 November 2007 – Philip Bennett

OK, so the title isn’t strictly true there is one important factor in ecommerce shopping cart design and two things you have to do achieve it. The goal is to make people purchase your product. The two things you have to do to make them buy is to help and persuade.

When you design a site you need to pay serious attention to it’s usability and it’s persuasive abilities. The aim of a good eCommerce solutions is to gently (or not so gently) persuade the sites user to purchase the product they want to make sure that they find this as easy as possible you need to make sure that your website is as usable as possible. There are thousands of usability and persuasive design methodologies and we don’t intend to cover them all in this article. We have identified a couple of the most important factors in both areas and given you some tips and guidance to help you tailor your shopping cart software to increase sales.

Usability Design

When a customer lands on your internet store they will only have a certain amount of patience, once this all runs out they will give up and leave your site for one of your competitors. The easier your site is to use and the less they have to think about how it works the longer they will stay on your site, and the more likely they will be to purchase from you.

With the increase in the use of CSS and the increasing accessibility of graphic manipulation packages people are able to completely customise the way the ‘things you click’ on their web-site look, the limit it pretty much their own imagination. Unfortunately this can lead to some confusion for users who have to think about what is clickable and what isn’t, this will cause them to get frustrated.

With text links it’s best to follow HTML tradition, keeping links in a contrasting colours and keep them underlined. Users also like to know where they have been, so keeping links that have been visited in another colour is good practice.

The best course of actions with buttons is to .. well .. make them look like buttons. I know it seems patronising but a lot of people forget this when they have spent a lot of time making sure the buttons on their site fit in with the design. Raised looking buttons are difficult to make look nice and clean without them looking a little ’2001′ but it’s really worth spending a little time thinking about your buttons.

One of the easiest way to lose customers is to actually lose them. If you customers can’t find their way around your store, or can’t find their way to wherever they want to be they’re not going to buy from you.

What’s the best way to achieve this? Well it’s probably by using tabs. they give a good idea of where the user is, and how they can get to where they want to be.

Tag Lines are frequently dismissed from modern website design in order to make at design look less cluttered, and certainly there are situation where removing a tag line will do no harm but generally there are useful. It is important that a customer know as quickly as possible if your site will sell the product they are looking for. A good example of this is Amazon when they first launched they used a tag-line similar to ‘Online Bookstore’ because when customer landed on their page they would have had to think a little to work out that a company called Amazon was in fact an online book store. However as Amazon are now so well known they have removed it as it’s no longer needed.

Persuasive Design

Once you’ve addressed the Usability of your store and your visitors can find their way around your site easily and find their way to where they want to be, you must then consider the second important part of the design. You need to make then go to where YOU want them too, the order confirmation page. Below are 3 tips for making this happen.

Once the user has put some items into their cart and clicked on the checkout button there is a good chance that they really want to buy something. So whatever you do make it as easy as possible for them to put their credit card details in and click the order confirm button.

A design practice that we implement is removing all unnecessary links from the order process. For example all links to the home and search boxes are removed. If the user goes searching for other products then it’s possible that they’ll get side tracked and forget that they were going to buy your products. But make sure that the user still has access to the information about the product that they’re buying, we try to implement this by including all the information on the shopping cart page, or by linking to pop-up with the info in, we do not link back to the original product page as this could lead to further distractions.

Long checkout processes with multiple pages is also something that should be avoided. Only ask the customer for information that you really need.

One of the main ways that people will look for products on your site is by using the search box. Rigging (or Mapping) your searches will allows you to map products to keyword, so when a customer searches for a word related to a product that does not include the keywords in the title or the product text you can make sure the products show up. This is just like a customer asking a shop assistance for a product when they know what they want the product to do, but are just not sure of the name of the product.

You need to make your product descriptions and products images as descriptive as possible, do not ever assume that your customers are as well versed on your products as you are. If there is something they want to know and you haven’t covered they will do one of three things:

- Ask you, which happens a lot less than you would imagine.
- Go and look on a competitors web-site, if they have the information then it’s likely you’ve lost a customer.
- Give Up.

Also the more information that you include the more ‘spider food’ there is got the search engines, writing the product descriptions is a good time to focus on Search Engine Optimisation.

Following a couple of these simple guidelines you should see a marked increase in the conversion rate for your store. There are also many other usability and persuasive design models that you can apply and we defiantly recommend searching for some more to apply to your shopping cart.

About the Author:
Ecommerce Shopping Cart Software is a one stop shop for all the information you need about shopping cart software and ecommerce solutions. This site is brought to you by Bennett Enable eCommerce Solutions

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Include this link when reprinting this article: http://www.freearticles.co.za/business/e-commerce/two-most-important-factors-ecommerce-design.html

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Knowing the Prepress

June 23, 2009 · Filed under Graphic Design, Readings · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Knowing the Prepress
by Joel Owens


Have you ever wondered who handles you print jobs each and every time you ask an online printing company to do them for you? The prepress handles your job orders once you have uploaded them on the internet and they are the ones who are going to handle it from there. The quality and outcome of your work would depend on how they handle it. They are more of like an extended employee of your business because your print jobs would soley depends on how they deal with it.

The Prepress

The prepress is a team composed mostly of experienced graphic designers who are considered experts w hen it comes to their specific fields and specialties. They are the ones who would represent the printing company you are working with as you start your printing process until you end it.

What do they do?

They practically do everything from the start as you place your orders up until the end wherein your prints are shipped or mailed back to you. Here are just some of the things they are usually tasked to do.

Planning
This comes most especially for those ones who know do not know too much about coming up with their print jobs. Not only will the prepress help you plan in whatever print you want to produce but they will also plan how your print jobs could be run to make it most cost-efficient. Their planning jobs could be as easy as assisting you with your design and layout up to the most complex of fixing which print is which and what goes first.

Color Management
This is the step where they would check if the colors are compatible with the type of printing you are asking them to do. It is also their job to see if the colors contrast or complement each other. They could make some adjustments on the colors you incorporated but of course, they must first ask for your approval.

Proofing
Proofing is the part where the graphic artists would check the over-all outcome of your print jobs. This is where they would check each and every detail of your prints. With your permission, they could make several adjustments that are capable of making your prints look its best.

Design tips
Being the professional graphic designers that they are, they would be able to give you some tips that would work for you and your prints. These tips could range from doing your layouts, placing your images or the printing process itself. They are more than willing to help you and give you tips about whatever.

File Submission
Once they have done the necessary adjustments and you have approved it, they would then submit these files to the printers which in turn would come up with the hard copies of your print jobs.

If you want your print jobs to come out at its best, you must trust the prepress with what they are doing. These people are the ones who guide you through out the whole printing process.

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How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer

June 23, 2009 · Filed under Graphic Design, Readings · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer
by Dot Design

“Hi.. how are you? Do you have any tips for me how to get into the UK design industry (Other than sending applications to agencies). Thanks!”

Which got me thinking about how difficult it was for me and some of the fellow graphic design students I studied with to get a job in the design industry back in 1999 (yes that long ago!) straight out of design college. I snapped up a job with a Central London design agency in Soho within 2 weeks of leaving college but looking back it wasn’t really the right job for me then. Though just 13 months later I changed positions and worked for a great design agency based in London Bridge and learned a huge amount as well as working on lots of different types of projects as a designer.

Anyway competition was fierce then BUT the amount of graphic design and other design courses available in art colleges and universities up and down the college has grown hugely since then.
So here are a few tips on (like Adam asked) “how to get into the UK Design industry”

The Portfolio
Having a great design portfolio is a must. To be honest your design portfolio is the most important thing on this list, its what you’ll mainly be judged on. It must be well presented and include at least 6 or more design projects. Think about the kind of work the agency your applying to does and try to tailor your portfolio towards that. For example if they specialise in corporate identity and branding work try to include work of this kind.

Be ready to talk about your design work, what inspired you, why you approached the project in the way you did, even choice of typeface, colours, imagery etc. Show them some of your sketchs and development work, some agencies what to see your scribbles more than the finished work as it shows your design process and how you think!

Before taking your portfolio along to job interviews, make sure you show it to a people (tutors, other design students) talk them through it, get them to ask you questions about your design work and respond with suitable answers. This will get you used to talking people through your portfolio, making you a more prepared for the interview.

Work Experience:
Offer to do some work experience with a design company who’s work you really admire (for free if you have to!), even if its just a week then spend that week wowing them, making the tea, producing great work, take an interest in everything relating to that design company. It is a good way to get your foot in the door but also don’t be too pushy or cocky, you might think your a great designer but remember there is a big difference between design college and the real world!
If the company really like you during your work experience they might offer you a full time job!

Finding Work:
Send your portfolio as a PDF etc to as many design companies (that your interested in) as possible, then after a few days give them a quick call to check they have received it.

Another alternative and one that worked for me is to approach a design recruitment agency. I contacted Major Players (there are many others!) when looking for a new graphic design position. They interviewed me and I took them through my portfolio and skills set, based on this they then contacted me when suitable jobs became available. This worked very well as they got me a new job within 2 weeks.

Dress code:
There isn’t one as such. Wear what your comfortable in but also look like you have made some sort of effort! That said I wouldn’t recommend turning up in a suit! Remember what you wear can be seen as a reflection of yourself and your design style or preferences.

Behaviour:
Be yourself, be calm and open to discussing your work and the work of the design agency. Remember to ask questions about what work they produce and what your role would be. One thing I found useful was to ask if someone could take you around the studio, afterall that is where you’ll be working if you get the job and you need to see what sort of environment you’ll be working in. It also easier to ask questions as you move around and see how they work.

Research
Remember to do some research on the company that is interviewing you, as they are likely to ask you what made you apply for a job with them, what sort of work do they produce, what awards have they won (if any), why do you want to work for them in particular?

Keep trying
Above all keep trying and keep looking at ways to improve your portfolio. If you go for an interview and they don’t give you a job, don’t worry, your work just might not be suitable for that particular design agency.

So hope this has helped, good luck!

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How To Get More Profits From Website Traffic

June 23, 2009 · Filed under Readings · Tagged , , , , , , ,

How To Get More Profits From Website Traffic
by Krishna Kant
The Search engine optimization is best way to get more traffic on your site and many times the traffic does not convert in the profit. So for the business growth it’s not only necessary to get more traffic, you should make sure that you profit from the traffic. And you always should plan for this. Some web master believes in writing articles according to search engine optimization rules and they do supplying them to the distinguished search engines like Yahoo, Google, Msn etc which is the top three search engines in Internet Marketing. But it will not give you yield at all. Few special tips to profit from traffic.

You should not make up this type of mind or thoughts i.e. traffic only website get that have a top on the Internet search engine and get profits from traffic. A million of visitors from through out whole world aim to get profit from traffic. Then you simply have to seize the correct knowledge and how to implement within your website. Every day a lot of people see your website, some of the website who actually gain from traffic. Websites that ultimately get online popularity and best rank in search engine results.

Two ways that can help you profit from your site traffic:

(1) Advertising – First of them allow advertisers to advertise their products and related scheme on your website. And in return you charge money from them, and it always point out that that visitors from through out world, can sight the advertisement direct clicking and as well as help you profit directly.

(2) Affiliate programs – Second the affiliates advertise program in this when some advertise about their products on your website, you can receive through double ways. First paid listing by these affiliates and also obtain revenues from the website guests.

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How Much is a Great Online Logo Worth?

June 12, 2009 · Filed under Graphic Design, Readings

Pricing a logo
This logo information page was inspired by the absolute confusion I see when it comes to online logo creation. I’ve searched dozens of logo web pages and have found that there is no consistency and more confusion than information. This page is strictly about the creation of the logo alone, no stationary package or implementation guidelines would be included.

I feel the price of a logo should be based on three criteria:
1. Experience of the logo designer
2. Size & budget of the company using the logo
3. Scope and length of the logo usage

I use the three criteria above assuming that the logo design is a standard type of logo. One other factor might come into play if a client were to request a very detailed and complicated logo design that bordered on being a technical illustration. You would have to factor in the extra time to create this type of design.

Below are my further thoughts on the subject and a guide as to what you should look for in an online logo designer.

Cheap logo design
They’re all over the Internet – logo designs under $150! I’ve seen $99 logo designs, $75 logo designs, $49 logo designs and even lower! You will easily find a wide range of prices for logo design on the Internet.

Be careful of cheap logo design offers, some designers may use clip art. A logo design that includes a royalty free piece of clip art cannot be copyrighted. Any company in the world could use the same piece of clip art as part of their logo design. Be sure and check out the designers portfolio. At $49 each, do their logos all look the same? Do 80% of them have block lettering and a swoosh?

Some logo designers charge one flat fee for a logo with no questions asked. Can you imagine Pepsi purchasing a logo design for $99? What a deal! Or how about Bob’s bait shop paying $750 for a logo. There goes the budget! All companies are not equal in size, budget and scope.

The confusion doesn’t stop there. Some logo designers charge additional costs for extra colors, extra modifications and extra preliminary designs. You have to get your calculator out just to figure the final cost of your logo. Do you really know what you are paying for?

How much is a logo really worth?
How much is a logo design really worth? Ask Coca-Cola, Polo, Nike, The Hard Rock Cafe, Hallmark or any other company that relies on their logo as their number one spokesman. Not every company is as large as these but every company should have a logo that is easy to identify and stands for the integrity of that business.

A logo design is more valuable to a company than a single spot illustration. An illustration is normally used once or used for a limited campaign, whereas a logo is used for years and is placed on business cards, letterheads, envelopes, web sites, vehicles, buildings and products. Do you see the difference in value to a company? A logo has more value than just the hours spent on creating it. It becomes the companies identity.

With that said, shouldn’t a logo be worth more than just the time involved in creating it? Professional graphic design rates average anywhere from $30 to $75 per hour. If you see a logo design priced at $125 and that designer charges $50 per hour for design work, do you assume that they spent 2.5 hours on your logo? That price would include the time spent to contact you, the research done on your company and competition, the preliminary ideas, the changes, the finalizing of the logo, the file prep for each different format, sending the logo, billing and allowing you to have all rights to the design. So how much time was actually spent creating your logo?

My conclusion is that a logo is much more valuable to a company than a standard illustration so the price should reflect the added value. Many professional graphic designers would be hard pressed to create a top notch illustration for under $150 let alone a creative, well designed logo. So beware of logos priced under $150, you may get what you pay for.

Added charges
I personally do not believe that the cost of a professionally priced logo design should be influenced by the list below. These factors are a part of logo design and should be kept under control by the logo designer.

Logo Modifications – If a logo designer asks the right questions, does the research and stays in close communication with the client there should be no need for major changes during the creation of a logo design. Be a good communicator and explain to the logo designer exactly what you want your logo to be saying about your business.

Do be aware though, that there will be those clients that will pick, pick and pick at the design. As a logo designer I do sometimes see the need to limit modifications but it will all even out in the long run. Some clients will need zero changes while others may request ten.

Extra Colors – Printers charge more for extra colors. If a logo designer charges more for a two color logo than they do for a three color logo, get a detailed explanation as to why. It only takes the click of a mouse to add an extra color.

Preliminary Designs – A few choices is good, to many choices is overkill. A logo designer should be able to decide for you the correct amount of preliminary designs it will require to create your perfect logo. Be leary of eight, ten and more initial designs. How much time could actually be spent on each design? If you don’t like your first two or three designs you can easily request two or three more.

If you are on a committe or a board, I assure you, you do not want to present ten logos to ten different people. You may never get down to a winning design.

If you need an additional presentation of logos due to a complete change in direction on your part, you should be charged an extra fee. An example would be asking for a yellow duck logo design and changing your mind to a red dog design once the logos are presented to you.

Adding an identity program to your logo is a legitimate cost. Designing the business card, letterhead and envelope layouts are normally a higher priced package. You should receive camera ready files for each design.

A fair logo price
There is a standard reference for pricing graphic design and corporate identity projects. It is Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, published by the Graphic Artists Guild. Any logo designer can purchase the book. A professional graphic designer would have a tough time supporting a family and a studio designing all of their logos below $200.

I’m not going to give exact prices for a logo design because each logo designers circumstances are different. Amateur logo designers charge much less to get their feet wet, but they should slowly increase their rates as they gain experience and creativity.

The standard logo design rates are based on two major components, company size and application or distribution size. The majority of logo designs created over the Internet are created for small companies and individuals with limited application and distribution uses. Fortune 500 companies normally pay much higher logo design rates and use advertising agencies.

An individual or small company with small to average uses should be prepared to pay anywhere from $300 to $1500 for a top quality, professional logo design.

Negotiate
If you have a small budget but like a more professional logo designer with higher logo rates, try to negotiate a better deal. Explain that you are a start up company or that you cannot pay the full amount until a later date.

Providing an exact idea of your logo with sketches might also save you a little money. If you can help the designer save time, you may be able to save money. A very simple text only logo might also be negotiated for a lower price.

If you have the budget and you like the logo designer, pay the going rate. Logo designers rely on top paying clients to make a living. Once established, a logo designer can then begin to negotiate and help smaller mom and pop businesses.

What’s included with your logo?
The worst part of paying for a cheap logo is finding out that you were not sent the correct file formats for printing and web. You will then have to pay another graphic designer or printer to create the correct files. Be aware of what file types you will be needing and ask your logo designer what file types are included in their price.

The most common file types needed are AI (Illustrator) and EPS for most professional print jobs. These are vector format files. These files should be in a CMYK color format. Vector art allows you to reduce or enlarge a design to ANY size without losing detail or clarity.

For home use and some print jobs you will need TIFF and BMP files. These are pixel files and should have a DPI (dots per inch) of at least 300 dpi. 600-1200 dpi is best for professional printing. These type of files lose their detail when enlarged but can be reduced.

The last file types you will need would be JPEG and GIF. These are pixel files and are used for web design. They should be in a RGB color format. Be aware that not all colors translate well on the Internet, especially GIF files. Ask if the logo designer used web safe colors. You should receive crisp 72 dpi files for the Internet. A GIF file should be transparent if you do not want a white box around it when displayed on your page.

Be sure and ask your logo designer about your logo colors. Ask them for the Pantone PMS color numbers for each color. You will need this information each time your logo is printed. This insures that you get the exact same colors with every printer that you use.

Will you get your files over the Internet or will you receive a CD? Try to get a CD, it is much easier to take that to your local printer. Ask your designer how long they keep your logo on file in case you lose your versions later down the road.

You should also receive all rights (copyrights) to your logo. Since a logo is a companies identity you will need to own all rights to get a trademark. Ask for this in writing if you have any doubts. When it comes to a cartoon or character logo some designers might negotiate fewer rights or usage’s to your logo to help save you money. You can renegotiate all rights and usage’s at a later date when you can financially afford it.

Ask for the background on the logo designer you choose, you should at the very least know their name. Do they have a degree? How long have they designed logos? Is this their profession or a hobby? Where is there portfolio? Can you contact their other clients? Can you speak to them directly? With the amount of software available today and the invention of the Internet, any sixteen year old kid can start his own logo design company.

Final Thoughts
In closing let me say that the information above is my own personal opinion and is taken from years of searching logo design web sites and reading books on graphic design. Some logo designers will disagree with my thoughts, especially the $49 logo designers. The prices and information I have explained here only pertain to the work of graphic designers, not advertising agencies. An advertising agency handles logo design on a larger scale and incorporates an entire corporate identity service. Their logo design rates are many times higher than a graphic designers.

by Curtis D. Tucker
Cartoon Logo Designer

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The 5 Essential Rules of Restaurant Menu Design

June 9, 2009 · Filed under Media and Advertisements, Readings · Tagged , , , , , ,

Click here to return to the post.

Need help with your menu design?
Why do it yourself when you can hire a designer at a cost you can afford!
Let us help you by submitting your job or ask us for a quote!
We can discuss your budget and work things out.

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When Design Matters : Things to do for your restaurant menu!

June 9, 2009 · Filed under Design Discussion, Media and Advertisements, Readings · Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Having design your own menu yourself can save you a sum of money especially during the start of your business but it is definitely not a good long term plan. The food industry is a very very competitive business whereby many restaurant businesses failed each year and some earn just enough to cover their daily expenses. The only escape is the need for marketing and promotions. This doesn’t mean that you will have to dig into your pockets for a huge sum of money! A simple thing as hiring a designer with some experience or knowledge in this area will greatly benefit you.
Before sending your old menu to a designer, there are a couple of things you should know.

1) Hiring a designer that know what are they doing.
Look at their portfolio to determine their skills and area of expertise. You won’t want to waste anymore money hiring another person to do the same job again, don’t you?

2) Costing you menu!
This is a very important step because it determines your profit margin.
Identify the items in your menu that have the highest contribution to your profit or items that you best represents the restaurant.

3) Knowing your customers
Who are your customers and what do they like to eat?
A menu design that aims specific customer group will yield more orders thus generate better sales.

4) Train your staffs!
Your restaurant business is yours and you should know every bit and pieces about it, that includes training your staffs.
Hiring part time waiter or waitresses should not be taken lightly. Experienced part-time or full-time waiters may be able to serve customers efficiently but they may not be able to increase the number of orders. How to get the right workers ? to be continued…

What is a good restaurant menu?
more…

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